I Am In Love!

Once in awhile I find a shoe I must have.  My black ones that everybody raves about when they see them.  My sexy boots.  And now these:

Kurtis laughed at me when I showed them to him.  But I really don't care.  These shoes are so beautiful, I may just cry out of sheer joy that they even exist.

The Boys Have Found A New Way to Drive Their Mother Nuts

A couple of Saturdays ago, Kurtis and I went to Home Depot for gardening supplies.  I remembered that people are afraid to ring our doorbell because it is broken, and even though it still worked, they were afraid to touch it.  I would even show them if they asked if the doorbell was broken.  That's not the point of this story, though.  While we were in the doorbell isle looking at all the wonderful doorbells, I noticed a wonderful product called the doorbell extender (or something like that).  As I investigated this product further, I realized it was probably exactly what we needed.  I never hear the doorbell when I am in the basement, and have always thought it was annoying.  We bought it, and while I fixed the doorbell, Kurtis hooked up the doorbell extender.  He plugged in the chime downstairs, and put the box with the microphone on top of the doorbell thingy that hangs on the wall and rings upstairs.  It works.  When somebody rings the doorbell upstairs, it chimes downstairs.  It's so awesome.  There's just one problem.  When the kids run around the house screaming upstairs, the doorbell rings downstairs.  A lot.

Church Was...Interesting Today

Oh, speaking of frogs (in my last post), Kurtis found the frog that escaped in December.  Our dog didn't eat it, and throw it up after all.  Which is good for the dog, but apparently, the frog went downstairs (I did look for it, I promise), and because nobody could find him and put him back in the water frogs so desperately need for their delicate skin, he shriveled up and died.  Sadness.  But now I wonder what the heck the dog actually did throw up because that was really, really nasty.  If you would like a reminder of the incident I am referring to see the post in December 2009 titled "This Post Is Gross.  Those With Weak Constitutions Should Probably Stay Away"
My sister has a blog and on her sidebar, she has a list of things she never thought she would say.  It's very funny.  So once in awhile, I will post things I never thought I would say.  Here's one.  I was sitting with my Primary class this morning and one of the boys starts pretending to shoot out the lights while the Bishop is giving a short talk.  I turned to him and told him to stop shooting up the church.  He replied, "I'm trying to make it holy."  My response, and the thing I never thought I would ever say was:  "Shooting holes in the church is not going to make it more holy."  They released Kurtis and me this morning - before class.

What Is It With You and Frogs?

Hey, I didn't pick the book!  But really.  They are my favorite animal.  I just wanted to show you some pictures of the book report diorama Zach had to do for his final book report this year.  At least, it had better be his final one because I am so freaking tired of all of his school projects.  Projects are only fun when I want to do them.  We did it all yesterday because it was due today.  I know.  I KNOW!  I just kept forgetting about it, and then remembering and forgetting.  I really wish teachers would not tell me about stuff right before the kids go on a week long vacation from school. :P  It turned out pretty awesome.  Because who did most of it?  Oh, yeah.  That was me.  He got 50 out of 50 for this particular project.  Which is good because I deserve that way awesome grade after walking to the craft store (it rained yesterday, so Kurtis got the car), spending about $60 (I always seem to get way more stuff than I need), and putting it all together.  Zach typed the fun facts, drew and cut out the tadpoles and clouds.  Kurtis helped me with one of the origami frogs.  I made the one that still has his tail.  Oh, yeah.  The book was Frogs by Gail Gibbons.

 Frog Facts

 I used googley eyes for the frog spawn (eggs)

These are Zach's tadpoles.

These are the origami frogs Kurtis and I made.  Mine is the tadpole with forelimbs in the front, and Kurtis' is the adult frog.  They like to eat grasshoppers.

In this picture, you can see the snake Zach picked to use.  I cut half of it off to make it look like it was coming out of the grass.  The grass is actually a stamp I have.

The finished project!  Yay us.  We did great. :D

Now Go Wash Your Hands!

I swear, sometimes I just do not understand my children.  Today, Kurtis sent Riley and his friend to go find bugs outside for our frogs to eat (Our fish had babies and I really want them to eat the babies, but so far it's not happening.  They would rather go hungry).  So they were gone a good while when E's mom calls for me to send him home.  I'm not telling you his name.  His mom might get mad at me. :)  Anyway, Kurtis sent Zach to go and get them.  About five or ten minutes later, they come back and Riley explains, "We didn't find any bugs, so we picked up trash instead."  And I tell him to put it in the outside garbage.  Then E says, "I have some recyclables."  So we go in the garage, and he starts pulling the garbage out of his pocket.  Most of it wasn't recyclable, but the thing that horrified me was, he was pulling glass out of his pocket!  Broken glass!  Oh my goodness!  And he kept pulling and pulling it out of his pocket, so I proceeded to lecture them about safe trash pick up.  You wear gloves, and take a bag to put the trash in.  Don't put it in your pocket.  Things that would seem logical to me.  Then Riley says, "Mom, it's Earth Day.  We're just taking care of it."  Well, alright then.  Just next time, don't put glass in your pocket!

 Our baby fish!  Kurtis said he counted twelve of them!

My Flowers (So My Sister Will Move Back Here)! :D

Hey, Michele!  Here are some more flower pictures to brighten your 59 degree day!  Muahhahhahhaahha!  But, just so you know:  Yesterday was 73, today (right now) it's 56 with off and on showers and a high of 64, and tomorrow, it's supposed to be rainy with a high of 51, so you win.  But I have tulips and bleeding hearts! :P
I weeded today, and got bit by an ant.  My left index finger went numb.  It's getting better, but is still a little numb.  I guess he crawled inside my glove with out me noticing, and got scared.  That was a pretty dumb thing to do.  Ants aren't very intelligent despite what Disney and Pixar would have you believe.  He he he.  I hate weeding.  I always feel like bugs are crawling on me after I come inside.  It's not fun, and probably some kind of mental illness, but I will try not to think about it.  I will just tell myself I'm just crazy.  That always makes me feel better.

This is where I weeded.  Don't look at the lawn.  We have the worst one in the neighborhood. :P

My bleeding hearts!  Don't look at the weeds next to them.  I haven't gotten that far yet! :D

You Now Know An ADR Master!

Today, I learned a new skill for my acting resume.  It's called ADR.  I can't remember what it stands for.  Audio Digital Recording?  Spencer knows.  I'll ask him.  Well, I was way off.  It stands for Automated Dialogue Replacement!  He he he.  I'm actually pretty excited to have gotten the experience.  It's something I am sure I will use over and over.  So here's what it is.  Basically, Tyler the Director of Photography lost the tape with the boom mic (the microphone the boom operator holds over the actors as they say their lines and do their stuff.  It's really not wierd at all.  You barely know they are there when you are in the moment) audio, so we had to go into this sound proof room with a microphone and say my lines while watching myself say my lines, so I could get them exactly like they appear to be on the screen.  It was difficult to master at first, but my best advice is to watch yourself a few times first, then have your lines memorized so you can concentrate on what your mouth is doing.  It was so much fun to act again!
Considering that sound can easily be messed up by just about anything in a movie, I'm fairly certain, I will have to do it again.  So when I finally let you see this pretty awesome/short film, you can see my sweet ADR skillz!  Hu-zah!

I Never Thought Tonight Could Ever Be This Close to Me...

For my sister's birthday (on Easter), I got her tickets to see Owl City in concert.  She'd been telling me that I could get her tickets to them for her birthday if I wanted to for awhile, so Spencer (the director of the student film I was just in recently who is also Emily's friend) and I plotted to surprise her.  I would say things like, are you sure you want me to get you tickets for Owl City, or do you want me to take you to see Plain White T's (her favorite band ever)?  And I told Spencer I would just get all three tickets and he could pay me back for his later, and he said he would stop talking about it with Emily.  He he he.  Then I slyly asked her if she was bummed she wouldn't get to go see Owl City when I saw her when Michele was here.  She said, "Oh, I'm sure I'll go.  My friends and I were talking about it.  But they haven't really said anything for awhile."  Perfect!  So on her birthday, she was way excited when she opened up her card and two tickets fell out.  I told her she could take anybody she wants, and she chose me!  Yay!
Last night, was the big day.  Emily's friend Joel came with us, too.  I was worried I would feel like a chaperone, but they treated me like one of the gang, so it was all good.  Going to a concert with Emily is an experience, though.  She likes to try to get as close to the stage as possible.  I am not a big fan of being tossed around by weird strangers, so I usually end up in the back not really being able to see very well because I am so short.  "Hold your ground!"  Emily would yell at me once in awhile.  "We have to box them out!"  It was hillarious. 
Joel and Emily are concert vetrans.  Spencer and I, not so much.  When we got in with the crowd, Spencer started to freak out a little.  He wanted more personal space.  To wich Emily and Joel said.  "You are at a concert.  Get used to it!"  I hugged him twice to help him get over the I need personal space issues too.  He said it helped.  Then, I told Emily it was her turn.  She hugged him twice too.  Mine were more like the "pin your arms down while I am hugging you" kind so he would get know the claustriphobic feelings that were about to come over him, and be ready.  I probably could have picked him up too.  He is skinnier than me.  But I did not do that.  Thinking back, it would have been funny.  Oh, well.  Next time!  That Cure song kept going through my head.  You know the one.  It's called "Close to Me".
Then the concert started, and we heard the melodical sounds of Paper Route.  I rather liked them.  I hadn't ever heard of them before.  Have a taste:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7dNzIRqBPQ  They played this song during their set.
After Paper Route, Lights came on.  Emily loves her.  She did a really great job, and I ended up buying her cd at the concert.  Apparently she plays World of Warcraft.  Her song "Lions" is about it.  She has a night elf character, which means I would never play with her.  FOR THE HORDE!  But any ways.  Most of you have no idea what I am talking about so, I will move on.  Here's a link to her video, too:  http://www.youtube.com/user/lights#g/c/909083C68EDC606E  click on "February Air".  It's a song I particularly like. :)
Then after more being jostled around, Owl City performed!  He sang my favortie song "Vanilla Twilight", and also we got to listen to Ronald Regan's words about the Challenger space shuttle exploding during the intro to "Meteor Shower".  Very moving.  I remember when it exploded.  I was just a little girl.  Emily and Spencer were debating about this song being about Jesus.  Spencer said, "No, it isn't!" and Emily said, "Yes. It. Is!"  Listening to that just made Spencer more convinced he was right.  I don't really care who is right.  It's just a great song!  I texted my brother, Ben when they played Dental Care.  That's his favorite.  I called him so he could hear it, but the song ended as he answered his phone, and I couldn't hear him, so I said bye and hung up.  I loved it when he played with the flowers some people gave him.  It was pretty cute.  He really liked them.
After the concert, we went to IHOP and had dinner.  It was raining when we left the concert, but turned to snow as I drove home.  I got home around two in the morning because I slowed down due to road conditions.  It really only put about fifteen extra minutes to my drive, so it wasn't so bad.  Until I my alarm woke me up at seven this morning.  Going to bed at three was a bad idea.  But I didn't really have a choice.  I came home and Kurtis and I had to talk about everything that they did while I was gone.  He put a fence around our garden so the dogs won't be able to get to it when we put our starters in.  He said it was too wet to cultivate that day.  He didn't want to in the rain.  That's understandable.  The dogs do not seem to really like the fence.  They are digging up the grass now. Yay!  In about fifteen years, I will have a nice yard.  Maybe twenty.

Paper Route!  See how close we got!  That was totally wicked!

Lights.  These pictures were taken on my phone.  I was not about to bring my big, bulky camera to the concert.  Although, Saltaire does allow them.

Owl City!!!  Spencer is pretty tall, so he took this one for me.  Awesome!

He was singing Hot Air Balloon (I think).

Emily.  Everyone thought she was a little boy.  Can you blame them?

Joel.  He's so excited!

Really blurry picture of me and Spencer.  He looks like my brother Jeremy in it.  I blame Emily.  She took it. :p

Dreamt about Matt Damon Last Night. Pretty Freaky Stuff.

Last night, I had a pretty weird dream.  I was in a Jason Bourne movie (you know, The Bourne Identity, etc.), and the plot of the movie doesn't really make much sense, but it was a dream.  That's why they are dreams.  They don't make any sense! 
So I was Matt Damon's girlfriend (in the movie), and we were running from the government (because that's the plot of all the Jason Bourne movies), and we've banded together with a woman and another man.  I can't remember who they were, but the woman looked a lot like Melinda Clarke (She was on an episode of Firefly - just IMDB her).  So we were all together, and Jason was just begining to remember how much in love with me he was, when he goes all nuts on everyone and is about to give us all away, so I had to tazer him.  It was a sad, sad moment for me.  His face went all weird, and I was so upset that I had to tazer the love of my life!  Where did I even get a tazer in the first place?  Then I had to figure out a way to earn his trust back because he wouldn't even speak to me for days.  Then I woke up.  Yeah.  I don't know what it means, or where it all came from, but tazering Matt Damon would be fun (in a movie because then I wouldn't really hurt him).  But I was not the girl in the first two movies who just limps around and hides because she's not trained fighter.  Oh, no.  I kicked butt, and did some freaking awesome stunts.

Happy Easter!

I made Easter cards for some of my family members, and I wanted to give you one too! :)  Here it is:

Inside it says: 

"He is not here, but is risen: remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee, Saying, The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again. And they remembered his words,"  Luke 24:6-8.  President Hinckley said, "Life is forever.  Live each day as if you were going to live eternally, for surely you shall."  We hope you have a wonderful Easter this year! 

Love, The Jones Family :)

Somebody Had To Die, But My Sister Came. Hooray!!!!!!!!

My sister came into town for a funeral (again).  How many people have to die just so I can see my sister more than once every two years!  The humanity!  Any way, this time it was her husband's grandfather.  He was 91.  Brian told me that he woke up the morning of his death, went outside on his ranch, and did all the chores, came back inside, took a nap, and just never woke up.  He had mild dimensia, but other than that he was healthy.  That's how I want to be when I am old enough to die.  Ninety-one is a good, long life, and he was a good man.  I didn't know him.  But he was a good man because Brian told me so.
They drove all the way over her from Minnesota.  They left on Monday.  Apparently, they only had one kid throw up in the car the whole way there.  Lucky them.  But poor Ana.  She told me she was sitting next to the thrower-upper.  It was gross.  They arrived on Tuesday.  The funeral was Wednesday in Idaho.  Then yesterday, I got to play with my sister and her family.  We went to the bird refuge, had lunch at Riccardos, dyed easter eggs, and had an egg hunt.  I almost ruined Easter by saying I hid them, but we fixed it.  I "helped" the Easter Bunny.  I don't know what my problem is.  As far as I know, my own kids still believe in the Easter Bunny.  I guess I think they are old enough to know the truth.  Easter isn't really about E.B. any way.  I try not to focus on it.  Maybe it was because it wasn't really Easter that day.  There is no justifying it, though.  I talk too much.  I need to shut up and, I'm sorry.  Maybe I just won't blog any more! :p 
I took pictures.  Pictures are always better than words any way, right?

Yesterday, was also April Fool's Day!  Ben thought it would be funny to take Michele's family's toothbrushes and put them in green jello.  Great prank.  So Michele took his toothbrush, put it in a water bottle, and hid it in the freezer in the garage.  Good times.  Just don't prank me.  I'm not fond of it.

Yes, the kids ate it.  Gross.

The bird refuge.  The view from the visitor's center.  Gorgeous!

We found bird tracks in the cement sidewalk.  I could be wrong, but I think this is a goose footprint.

Cousins!  L2R: Ana, Zach, Isaac, Riley, and Henry.  Kaleb would not get in the picture.  He does not like having his picture taken and William was in the gift shop.

William at Riccardo's.  That's his Uncle Spencer's facial hair in the background.  Pretty sweet.

Dying Easter Eggs!

The artist at work.  His egg is on fire!

The Easter mile.

Yes, that is Jesus.

Michele created the Mona Lisa on her egg.  Such talent!

Hunting for those eggs!  And, yes, it is snowing.  Yippee!  Look at Emily, you'll see it.

He found the last egg!  Whew!